August 8, 2025 • 27 mins
Transportation Engineer Allan Kindrat's groundbreaking work on the Cycle 16 multi-use path connecting Smithers and Telkwa recently earned a Gold Award from the Planning Institute of BC, recognizing two decades of persistent community advocacy finally bearing fruit.
The project represents a watershed moment for active transportation in BC. What began as a grassroots initiative championed by the Cycle 16 Trail Society has evolved into something much bigger – the first major project taken over by the Ministry of Transportation and Transit under their new Active Transportation Capital Program. With $85 million allocated across approximately 11 projects province-wide, this represents an unprecedented commitment to building dedicated cycling and pedestrian infrastructure within highway corridors. This ministerial involvement sets a promising precedent for similar initiatives across BC, including the Connect the Coast Society's efforts on the Sunshine Coast, where Kindrat now serves as project manager. Get your how-to's here!
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Find out more about Cycle 16 (Smithers to Telkwa) HERE
Find out more about Sunshine Coast: Connect the Coast Trail HERE
Visit Allan Kindrat HERE
Learn about B.C. Active Transportation Infrastructure Grants (and find out which projects have received them) HERE
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The Bike Sense podcast with Peter Ladner is produced by the BC Cycling Coalition – your voice for safer and more accessible cycling and active transportation in British Columbia.
Got feedback or ideas for future episodes? Please drop us an email at admin@bccycling.ca.
Membership in the BCCC is now FREE! The future of this podcast depends on people like you becoming members at BCCycling.ca.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Bike Sense , the BC Cycling Coalition's
podcast, where we talk about allthings related to active
transportation advocacy in BC.
I'm your host, peter Ladner,chair of the Board of the BC
Cycling Coalition.
I hope you enjoy the show.
(00:37):
As we all know, the expansion ofactive transportation depends
heavily on safe infrastructure,and outside the denser urban
areas of our province thatusually means multi-use paths on
longer routes that serve localcommuters, recreation and, with
(00:57):
luck, tourists.
Many of them are on Ministry ofTransportation and Transit
rights of way.
Some of them are on old railbeds, and building such routes,
as we've covered on this podcast, requires First Nations buy-in,
usually millions of dollars ofprovincial and regional funding,
years of work, communityadvocacy, political will, but
all eventually require a projectmanager who can actually build
(01:18):
them.
Alan Kindred is such a person.
He's a senior transportationengineer at WSP Canada and he
lives with his family anextended family in Smithers
where he stick-handled theconstruction of Cycle 16 route
to Telqua, and we're going toask him about that and other
projects he's working on andjust how to get these things
(01:39):
done.
Welcome, alan.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Thanks, Peter.
I'm excited to be here to chatwith you about all the exciting
work happening in the provinceright now.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, I know your recent excitement was you just
won an award for your work inSmithers.
Can you tell us about?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
that, yeah, we worked with the Regional District of
Bulkley-Nachako, who is theregional district in our area,
is the regional district in ourarea connecting the communities
of Smithers and Telqua, on aapplication for the award
earlier this year and just lastmonth we were down in Vancouver
(02:15):
to receive the award.
It was a gold award forexcellence in planning practice
in small and rural areas andCycle 16, the regional district
and WSP received the award.
So it was really exciting tosee the work that we've done
being recognized by the PlanningInstitute of BC.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
What was special about that work, besides the
fact that it actually got done?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, there are a lot of things about Cycle 16 that
are special.
It spans three localgovernments, so the town of
Smithers, the regional districtof Bulkley-Nachako and the
village of Telqua.
So it took a lot ofcoordination and it was a
(03:05):
project that was championed by anonprofit cycle 16 trail
society.
Um, really, for for over 20years, from the time it was
conceived, uh, as an idea to towhen the first phase of the
project was built.
So it, uh it did not happenovernight, but it has been
(03:26):
extremely successful.
It's been really kind of thehonor of my lifetime to be a
part of the project.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Describe what's happening there right now.
We're recording this rightafter Canada Day.
Were you out there on CanadaDay?
Were there lots of people outthere?
How is it working?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Were you out there on Canada Day?
Were there?
Lots of people out there.
How is it working?
Yeah, maybe I'll back up just amoment and give a bit of an
overview of Cycle 16, if thatmakes sense.
The project was led by the TrailSociety for a number of years.
(04:04):
The project was originallyplanned to be three phases,
which were all within theregional district of
Bulkley-Nachako's municipalboundaries, but as the project
evolved over time it became afive-phase project because the
town of Smithers needed toincorporate a connecting trail
to it, and likewise for thevillage of Telqua.
(04:24):
In 2020, the first phase of thecycle 16 project was funded and
in 2023 construction on thatwas complete.
And that was a pretty pivotalmoment for the project because
it was no longer just an idea.
It was something tangible thatpeople could actually go out and
ride.
(04:47):
Just last month, the next phaseof the project was opened to the
public and that's the Town ofSmithers piece.
So we've now got twooperational phases of the
five-phase project and last yearthe Ministry of Transportation
(05:07):
actually took over the project.
So it was a project that wasbeing led by Cycle 16, with the
regional district and otherlocal governments agreeing to
own and operate the pieceswithin their municipal
boundaries.
But last year the ministryannounced a new funding program,
the BC Active TransportationCapital Program, and they
selected Cycle 16 as one oftheir projects that would be
funded under this program.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Alan, I just want to get clear.
This sounds like a pretty bigbreakthrough for the ministry.
Can you tell us how much of aprecedent this sets and how that
is being seen in other places?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, so the Ministry of Transportation and Transit's
Active Transportation CapitalProgram that was announced last
year, to my understanding, isthe first of its kind, not only
in BC but also nationwide.
I was at the TransportationAssociation of Canada's
conference last fall, and therewas a lot of interest from
(06:03):
transportation ministries inother provinces in what BC is
doing here, and so I believethat they're viewed as a
national leader in activetransportation capital projects.
So not only is the provincebuilding and expanding their
highway network, but they're nowcommitting substantial money to
(06:24):
building out activetransportation corridors in
their highway rights-of-way.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Does that mean new highway projects will
automatically have multi-usepaths or corridors involved in
that project, or does that meantaking existing highways and
adding multi-use paths?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
It won't mean automatically that new highways
get multi-use paths, but Ibelieve that there has been a
policy within the ministry for anumber of years now that any
major highway expansion looksclosely at including active
transportation elements.
But the capital program isspecifically for active
transportation projects withintheir highway corridor and so
(07:06):
they are standalone projects,such as the Cycle 16 project,
and they're not necessarily justmulti-use paths.
They can be protected bikelanes, they can be other forms
of active transportationinfrastructure, but multi-use
paths are what we're seeing mostcommonly, connecting
communities.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So if other communities are planning on
doing something like this, isthis where they should
eventually aim to have theministry take over these
projects.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, that's a very interesting question.
Working closely with Cycle 16over the years, we all believed
that this was something thatshould be the Ministry of
Transportation and Transit'sresponsibility.
The multi-use path is withinthe highway corridor and it is a
form of transportation, and sowe really viewed that ministry
(07:55):
as being ultimately responsiblefor it.
But it's not something that theministry had done before.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
So this was the first time the ministry had taken
ownership of one of theseprojects.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
To my understanding, yes, the capital program is
funding active transportationprojects in their highway
corridor for the first time asmajor works projects.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Can you say anything about what it took to bring the
ministry into the picture?
I know that they've beenspending a lot of money on
active transportation projectsin different ways, but if this
is a new way, was theresomething about this project
that attracted them?
Is it something that you andthe advocates on the ground had
to do to bring them in?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, the Cycle 16 Trail Society and WSP, as their
project manager, worked closelywith the ministry for a number
of years leading up to theconstruction of the first phase.
Because the project is in theirright of way, they have final
say on the design and whether ornot to permit the trail in
(09:00):
their right of way.
Originally, the plan was tohave the trail constructed and
the regional district would havea license of occupation to
operate the trail within thehighway right-of-way, and so it
took very close coordinationwith the ministry to ensure that
the project could be approvedand constructed and ultimately
(09:22):
operated in their right of way.
Now, one thing that we've beenvery fortunate about in Smithers
is having the support of thelocal ministry district.
They have been absolutelyfantastic to work with.
They are local cyclists andadvocates themselves, and so
(09:45):
having the support from thelocal ministry district was a
really big deal for the projectwhen the ministry announced the
funding for the capital programlast year it was $9.3 million
for the remaining phases ofcycle 16.
$6.3 million for the remainingphases of cycle 16.
(10:05):
I believe they announced $85million total spread across
about 11 projects in theprovince.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
You were saying, when they announced it, that
signaled the final stage offunding it and readiness to
finish it?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That's right.
So prior to them announcing thefunding, we were working
closely with the regionaldistrict, the town and Cycle 16
to apply for grants to fund theconstruction of the remaining
phases.
We had a lot of momentum withthe project, but we really were
at a point where we're justwaiting for the right grant to
(10:42):
move forward with the next phase.
And with the ministryannouncing the funding, it's now
taken all of the uncertaintyaway from ensuring that the
project gets complete, becausethe funding is in place now and
we're working through the finalstages of design on the
remaining phases.
Phase three of the Cycle 16Trail was actually put out to
(11:04):
tender a little over a month agoand has now been awarded to a
local contractor, andconstruction will begin later
this month.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
We hear this a lot, that the involvement of the
ministry depends quite heavilyon the local ministry manager,
and would you say that that'ssomething that communities have
to accept or work with?
If they have a manager, forexample, who's not as supportive
, are projects like these evenlikely or possible?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's a great question .
I would like to believe thatthey're still possible, but you
certainly have more of an uphillbattle if you don't have the
buy-in from your local ministrydistrict.
They are key to any developmentwithin the highway right-of-way
, which many of these projectsrely upon heavily.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So there's no overriding policy that's coming
down from the top in theministry that requires all these
district managers to be on sidewith projects like these.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Not that I'm aware of .
This is a very new thing forthe ministry, for them to be
taking over these projects andleading them, and so I think
that they're still working outwhat those policies are in terms
of operations and maintenanceof active transportation
infrastructure in their highwayright-of-way, how they manage
(12:34):
the maintenance of these newtrails right-of-way how they
manage the maintenance of thesenew trails.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Well, I'm pretty excited about this because I
know from my experience in thecity of Vancouver, when the city
engineers first figured out howto build a bike route, it took
a lot of engineering, back andforth and figuring, and once
they got it, then the next bikeroutes were way easier.
Would you say that would be thecase in this example, that once
(13:00):
they figured out thisright-of-way active
transportation corridor, thenthe next ones will be easier?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I believe so.
Yeah, and I think Cycle 16 andother projects in the province
have began to set a bit of aprecedence, and it's exciting to
see that the ministry has takenthis one over, because it gives
hope to many other projectsthroughout the province that are
in similar situations.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Let's talk about one of those projects, because I
know you've been hired by theConnect the Coast Society on the
Sunshine Coast.
What are you working on thereand what is your role and how's
it going?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
My role on that project is similar to my role
was on Cycle 16.
I've been hired as theirproject manager to help liaise
with local governments andministry agencies with local
governments and ministryagencies and they've also hired
us to do the conceptual designfor their priority segment,
(14:04):
which is from the edge of thetown of Gibsons to Lower Road.
It's approximately threekilometers and the first section
of that is within the town ofGibsons and the final two
segments are within the SunshineCoast Regional District.
(14:25):
So it has a lot of similaritiesto the Cycle 16 project, where
it's spanning multiple localgovernments and the
infrastructure is within thehighway, right-of-way.
And so right now we'redeveloping the conceptual design
to help prove the feasibilityof the project, and we also have
a significant component instakeholder engagement, and so
(14:48):
we were actually down in Gibsonsin February, meeting with the
local governments as well asmany of the elected officials to
discuss the project, to getinput and feedback on our design
and to strategize how best tomove the project forward.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Now the three kilometers.
Is that towards the ferry atLangdale or in some other
direction?
It's actually towards Sechelt.
Oh, okay, going the other way,Right, yeah, and what are your
challenges?
Progress reports on that one.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Well, the Highway 101 corridor is extremely
challenging along the SunshineCoast is extremely challenging.
Along the Sunshine Coast it'sgenerally pretty narrow and
there are a lot of utilities andproperties and topographical
constraints, drainages that makedesigning a multi-use path
(15:51):
within the Highway Right-of-Wayvery challenging and expensive.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
How about raising the money?
You mentioned that you werehired by the local society, so
the local advocates had to comeup with the money to pay you.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
That's right.
Yeah, so they rely heavily ongrants as did Cycle 16, to fund
these early phases of theproject, and what their role is
is really championing theproject and helping prove out
the feasibility of it anddeveloping a social license for
(16:27):
the project.
The ultimate goal is that theycan take the project to a stage
where local governments arefully in support of it and see
the value that the project willoffer to the community and
eventually take it over.
On that note, there's kind oftwo different paths that the
(16:48):
project could take.
Path one would be the localgovernments choose to own and
operate the trail.
They would also be responsiblefor funding the construction of
it.
And path two would be that theMinistry of Transportation and
Transit would take it over,which is what happened with the
Cycle 16 project.
So the Connect the CoastSociety is pursuing both paths
(17:14):
and working towards trying to tofind an owner for it.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Alan, it sounds like you are technically an engineer.
I mean, you are an engineer,but your job involves a certain
amount of if I can call itpolitics, of bringing people
together and coming to consensuson roots funding and all of
that stuff.
Is that a big part of whatyou're doing?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
It's funny, I don't think of it as politics, but
there is certainly an element ofthat.
Certainly, we do a lot ofstakeholder engagement, and so
building those relationships iskey.
Yeah, I bring a few elements, Iguess, to the project.
I'm a professional projectmanager so I have good
(18:02):
experience on what it takes todeliver projects, but I also
have a lot of experience instakeholder engagement and
helping build support for theproject.
And then I've also got thetechnical experience of a
transportation engineer, so Iunderstand a lot of the
technical challenges that goalong with projects like this.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I imagine understanding the technical
challenges would be pretty darnimportant, because it's easy to
say, oh, we should just put aroute along here, without
realizing we've got to cross allthese intersections and
drainages and sewer pipes,whatever.
Realizing you've got to crossall these intersections and
drainages and sewer pipes,whatever.
The one in Smithers, the Cycle16 project, you said, took 20
(18:46):
years but it culminated in abreakthrough funding initiative
and responsibility by theMinistry of Transportation and
Transit.
Do other advocates have toexpect to wait 20 years for
their projects to come tofruition, or do you think?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
we're now on a much faster track because of some of
this recent work that you'vebeen involved with.
Yeah, I do think that some ofthe groundwork that has been
done on projects like Cycle 16will help us move more quickly
on some of these projects, and Ido think that the province
itself is in a different placetoday than it was 20 years ago
(19:24):
when it comes to prioritizingactive transportation and
capital projects, and so and Ithink we're in an exciting place
where we're seeing a lot morefunding being allocated to these
types of projects.
With that said, it certainlydoes take a lot of effort to get
(19:44):
these projects to the pointwhere local governments or the
ministry are willing to takethem over, and having an
organization, or multipleorganizations, champion a
project is really important.
That was certainly the key tosuccess for Cycle 16.
I think it's the only reasonthe Sunshine Coast project is
(20:09):
making progress as well, becausethe Connect the Coast Society
is championing the project.
Hopefully, one day we're in aplace where that's not necessary
, where boards of volunteersdon't have to dedicate their
time to ensure that theseimportant projects get built,
but that certainly is a keypiece of the projects in today's
(20:31):
environment.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Well, we're working hard through the BC Cycling
Coalition and this podcast tohelp these advocates learn how
to do it.
But I certainly appreciate yourpoint that it does seem a bit
weird.
You don't hear local advocateshaving to get together and raise
funding for the consultation onbuilding a highway interchange,
for example.
It just gets done Now with theministry getting involved.
(20:55):
How are they measuring success?
What is their desired outcome?
And is there data beingcollected, say on the Cycle 16
path, to prove that money waswell spent?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, we've got eco-counters, which are
bi-directional pedestriancyclist counters, installed on
each phase of the project sothat we can collect data on the
usage, and so that is somethingthat the province is collecting
on all their projects to showwhat the return on investment
(21:26):
was for the total capitalinvestment versus the total
usage in the end.
So far, cycle 16 has beengetting a lot of use, which is
really exciting to see.
We've got a local bakery at theend of phase one, and so every
Saturday they've got a what theycall a bikery event.
Um, and we see upwards of 350pedestrians and cyclists
(21:50):
commuting out to the, to thebikery every Saturday Wonderful.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You got, you said you .
You told me you had two, twokids, two sons, five and seven.
That's right.
Have you been to the bikery?
I have, yeah, and what's itlike?
What's the feeling out there?
You must feel pretty good aboutthis coming to fruition because
of you, and here you are withyour friends and relatives.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
It's amazing.
I just yeah.
I feel very fortunate to havebeen a part of this project and
to see it contribute to ourcommunity and to see my kids use
it and hopefully, one day,their kids.
I never expected to designthese types of projects for a
living.
It really was the Cycle 16project and the opportunity that
(22:31):
was given to me that put mycareer on a path of almost
exclusively designing theseprojects, so it's really neat.
I feel quite fortunate for it.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Are there other people in your organization and
around the province who havethis expertise and are also
getting involved in this?
Because the way you'vedescribed it, it would sound
like fingers crossed.
This is a growing employmentopportunity, let's say, and
opportunity for companies likeyours.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Absolutely.
Yeah, we've got a growing teamof transportation engineers that
are designing trails like thisthroughout the province.
Wsp has a very large landscapearchitecture team and
transportation planning team andso they contribute important
components to to projects likethis and they work a lot with
(23:20):
local governments on activetransportation network plans and
, yeah, it's an exciting space.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Before we let you go.
Are there people in Smithers,where you're most which is what
you're most familiar with whoyou wouldn't have thought would
care or be involved with this,who have find themselves now
supporting it, now that it'sthere, and they've experienced
how, let's say wonderful it is.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Absolutely yeah.
So before the first phase ofcycle 16 was constructed there
was certainly some opposition tothe project Maybe not a good
use of taxpayer dollars orexpectations that it wouldn't
get a whole lot of use.
And that piece of trail hasbeen in operation for two years
(24:07):
now and we see a ton of use onthe trail and a lot of people
commute to town and they'redriving by the first phase of
cycle 16 and seeing theirfriends or their grandkids
biking on the trail.
And it certainly has flippedthe perception and support stage
(24:31):
because people can see itgetting used and can see it
acting as a safe means oftransportation for many, which
riding on the highway shoulderwas pretty scary and continues
to be scary for a lot of people,and so seeing a separated bike
path where kids and families canride is pretty special.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Fantastic.
Do you have any other advicefor other organizations that
might be interested in this kindof project things?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
they should get ready before they even call someone
like you yeah, um, in myexperience there's more support
in communities for projects likethis than most people realize,
and so it's drumming up thatsupport and building a social
license for the project, andthat does take a lot of effort,
(25:26):
but it is a key step inadvancing a project.
And so if you have a project inyour community that would help
improve the community, then youneed to work with some of the
local organizations and buildsupport for it.
There's a lot of grant fundingout there to help advance
projects like this.
Grants from where.
There are grants that theprovince has through the BC
(25:50):
Active Transportation Programprogram.
They offer, I believe, $50,000per year for active
transportation network plans andup to $500,000 for capital
projects.
There are federal grants andthen there's lots of local
organizations that grant moneyto projects like this.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So, alan, will we see you at the Regional Active
Transportation Conference inKimberley September 10th to 12th
.
So, alan, will we see you atthe regional active
transportation conference inkimberly september 10th to 12th
yes absolutely.
I'm looking forward to it.
Fantastic, so people who cometo that conference will have a
chance to ask you more questionsabout these projects and, uh,
hopefully advance them in theirown communities.
Thank you so much for youradvice and we look forward to
(26:33):
following your progress onconnect the coast and wherever
else you might be lending yourtalents.
Thanks, alan, thanks peter.
You've been listening to bikesense, an original podcast from
the bc cycling coalition.
(26:53):
If you like the podcast, we'dbe grateful if you could leave
us a rating.
On whatever platform you use,you can also subscribe so you
don't miss future episodes.
If you have comments orsuggestions for future episodes,
email me at peterladner atbccyclingca.
(27:14):
Peterladner at bccyclingca.
You can help us amplify BCCycling Coalition's voice by
simply becoming a free member atbccyclingca.
Thank you.
Welcome to Bike Sense , the BC Cycling Coalition's
podcast, where we talk about allthings related to active
transportation advocacy in BC.
I'm your host, peter Ladner,chair of the Board of the BC
Cycling Coalition.
I hope you enjoy the show.
(00:37):
As we all know, the expansion ofactive transportation depends
heavily on safe infrastructure,and outside the denser urban
areas of our province thatusually means multi-use paths on
longer routes that serve localcommuters, recreation and, with
(00:57):
luck, tourists.
Many of them are on Ministry ofTransportation and Transit
rights of way.
Some of them are on old railbeds, and building such routes,
as we've covered on this podcast, requires First Nations buy-in,
usually millions of dollars ofprovincial and regional funding,
years of work, communityadvocacy, political will, but
all eventually require a projectmanager who can actually build
(01:18):
them.
Alan Kindred is such a person.
He's a senior transportationengineer at WSP Canada and he
lives with his family anextended family in Smithers
where he stick-handled theconstruction of Cycle 16 route
to Telqua, and we're going toask him about that and other
projects he's working on andjust how to get these things
(01:39):
done.
Welcome, alan.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Thanks, Peter.
I'm excited to be here to chatwith you about all the exciting
work happening in the provinceright now.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Well, I know your recent excitement was you just
won an award for your work inSmithers.
Can you tell us about?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
that, yeah, we worked with the Regional District of
Bulkley-Nachako, who is theregional district in our area,
is the regional district in ourarea connecting the communities
of Smithers and Telqua, on aapplication for the award
earlier this year and just lastmonth we were down in Vancouver
(02:15):
to receive the award.
It was a gold award forexcellence in planning practice
in small and rural areas andCycle 16, the regional district
and WSP received the award.
So it was really exciting tosee the work that we've done
being recognized by the PlanningInstitute of BC.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
What was special about that work, besides the
fact that it actually got done?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, there are a lot of things about Cycle 16 that
are special.
It spans three localgovernments, so the town of
Smithers, the regional districtof Bulkley-Nachako and the
village of Telqua.
So it took a lot ofcoordination and it was a
(03:05):
project that was championed by anonprofit cycle 16 trail
society.
Um, really, for for over 20years, from the time it was
conceived, uh, as an idea to towhen the first phase of the
project was built.
So it, uh it did not happenovernight, but it has been
(03:26):
extremely successful.
It's been really kind of thehonor of my lifetime to be a
part of the project.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Describe what's happening there right now.
We're recording this rightafter Canada Day.
Were you out there on CanadaDay?
Were there lots of people outthere?
How is it working?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Were you out there on Canada Day?
Were there?
Lots of people out there.
How is it working?
Yeah, maybe I'll back up just amoment and give a bit of an
overview of Cycle 16, if thatmakes sense.
The project was led by the TrailSociety for a number of years.
(04:04):
The project was originallyplanned to be three phases,
which were all within theregional district of
Bulkley-Nachako's municipalboundaries, but as the project
evolved over time it became afive-phase project because the
town of Smithers needed toincorporate a connecting trail
to it, and likewise for thevillage of Telqua.
(04:24):
In 2020, the first phase of thecycle 16 project was funded and
in 2023 construction on thatwas complete.
And that was a pretty pivotalmoment for the project because
it was no longer just an idea.
It was something tangible thatpeople could actually go out and
ride.
(04:47):
Just last month, the next phaseof the project was opened to the
public and that's the Town ofSmithers piece.
So we've now got twooperational phases of the
five-phase project and last yearthe Ministry of Transportation
(05:07):
actually took over the project.
So it was a project that wasbeing led by Cycle 16, with the
regional district and otherlocal governments agreeing to
own and operate the pieceswithin their municipal
boundaries.
But last year the ministryannounced a new funding program,
the BC Active TransportationCapital Program, and they
selected Cycle 16 as one oftheir projects that would be
funded under this program.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Alan, I just want to get clear.
This sounds like a pretty bigbreakthrough for the ministry.
Can you tell us how much of aprecedent this sets and how that
is being seen in other places?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, so the Ministry of Transportation and Transit's
Active Transportation CapitalProgram that was announced last
year, to my understanding, isthe first of its kind, not only
in BC but also nationwide.
I was at the TransportationAssociation of Canada's
conference last fall, and therewas a lot of interest from
(06:03):
transportation ministries inother provinces in what BC is
doing here, and so I believethat they're viewed as a
national leader in activetransportation capital projects.
So not only is the provincebuilding and expanding their
highway network, but they're nowcommitting substantial money to
(06:24):
building out activetransportation corridors in
their highway rights-of-way.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Does that mean new highway projects will
automatically have multi-usepaths or corridors involved in
that project, or does that meantaking existing highways and
adding multi-use paths?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
It won't mean automatically that new highways
get multi-use paths, but Ibelieve that there has been a
policy within the ministry for anumber of years now that any
major highway expansion looksclosely at including active
transportation elements.
But the capital program isspecifically for active
transportation projects withintheir highway corridor and so
(07:06):
they are standalone projects,such as the Cycle 16 project,
and they're not necessarily justmulti-use paths.
They can be protected bikelanes, they can be other forms
of active transportationinfrastructure, but multi-use
paths are what we're seeing mostcommonly, connecting
communities.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So if other communities are planning on
doing something like this, isthis where they should
eventually aim to have theministry take over these
projects.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, that's a very interesting question.
Working closely with Cycle 16over the years, we all believed
that this was something thatshould be the Ministry of
Transportation and Transit'sresponsibility.
The multi-use path is withinthe highway corridor and it is a
form of transportation, and sowe really viewed that ministry
(07:55):
as being ultimately responsiblefor it.
But it's not something that theministry had done before.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
So this was the first time the ministry had taken
ownership of one of theseprojects.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
To my understanding, yes, the capital program is
funding active transportationprojects in their highway
corridor for the first time asmajor works projects.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Can you say anything about what it took to bring the
ministry into the picture?
I know that they've beenspending a lot of money on
active transportation projectsin different ways, but if this
is a new way, was theresomething about this project
that attracted them?
Is it something that you andthe advocates on the ground had
to do to bring them in?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, the Cycle 16 Trail Society and WSP, as their
project manager, worked closelywith the ministry for a number
of years leading up to theconstruction of the first phase.
Because the project is in theirright of way, they have final
say on the design and whether ornot to permit the trail in
(09:00):
their right of way.
Originally, the plan was tohave the trail constructed and
the regional district would havea license of occupation to
operate the trail within thehighway right-of-way, and so it
took very close coordinationwith the ministry to ensure that
the project could be approvedand constructed and ultimately
(09:22):
operated in their right of way.
Now, one thing that we've beenvery fortunate about in Smithers
is having the support of thelocal ministry district.
They have been absolutelyfantastic to work with.
They are local cyclists andadvocates themselves, and so
(09:45):
having the support from thelocal ministry district was a
really big deal for the projectwhen the ministry announced the
funding for the capital programlast year it was $9.3 million
for the remaining phases ofcycle 16.
$6.3 million for the remainingphases of cycle 16.
(10:05):
I believe they announced $85million total spread across
about 11 projects in theprovince.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
You were saying, when they announced it, that
signaled the final stage offunding it and readiness to
finish it?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That's right.
So prior to them announcing thefunding, we were working
closely with the regionaldistrict, the town and Cycle 16
to apply for grants to fund theconstruction of the remaining
phases.
We had a lot of momentum withthe project, but we really were
at a point where we're justwaiting for the right grant to
(10:42):
move forward with the next phase.
And with the ministryannouncing the funding, it's now
taken all of the uncertaintyaway from ensuring that the
project gets complete, becausethe funding is in place now and
we're working through the finalstages of design on the
remaining phases.
Phase three of the Cycle 16Trail was actually put out to
(11:04):
tender a little over a month agoand has now been awarded to a
local contractor, andconstruction will begin later
this month.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
We hear this a lot, that the involvement of the
ministry depends quite heavilyon the local ministry manager,
and would you say that that'ssomething that communities have
to accept or work with?
If they have a manager, forexample, who's not as supportive
, are projects like these evenlikely or possible?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
It's a great question .
I would like to believe thatthey're still possible, but you
certainly have more of an uphillbattle if you don't have the
buy-in from your local ministrydistrict.
They are key to any developmentwithin the highway right-of-way
, which many of these projectsrely upon heavily.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So there's no overriding policy that's coming
down from the top in theministry that requires all these
district managers to be on sidewith projects like these.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Not that I'm aware of .
This is a very new thing forthe ministry, for them to be
taking over these projects andleading them, and so I think
that they're still working outwhat those policies are in terms
of operations and maintenanceof active transportation
infrastructure in their highwayright-of-way, how they manage
(12:34):
the maintenance of these newtrails right-of-way how they
manage the maintenance of thesenew trails.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Well, I'm pretty excited about this because I
know from my experience in thecity of Vancouver, when the city
engineers first figured out howto build a bike route, it took
a lot of engineering, back andforth and figuring, and once
they got it, then the next bikeroutes were way easier.
Would you say that would be thecase in this example, that once
(13:00):
they figured out thisright-of-way active
transportation corridor, thenthe next ones will be easier?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I believe so.
Yeah, and I think Cycle 16 andother projects in the province
have began to set a bit of aprecedence, and it's exciting to
see that the ministry has takenthis one over, because it gives
hope to many other projectsthroughout the province that are
in similar situations.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Let's talk about one of those projects, because I
know you've been hired by theConnect the Coast Society on the
Sunshine Coast.
What are you working on thereand what is your role and how's
it going?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
My role on that project is similar to my role
was on Cycle 16.
I've been hired as theirproject manager to help liaise
with local governments andministry agencies with local
governments and ministryagencies and they've also hired
us to do the conceptual designfor their priority segment,
(14:04):
which is from the edge of thetown of Gibsons to Lower Road.
It's approximately threekilometers and the first section
of that is within the town ofGibsons and the final two
segments are within the SunshineCoast Regional District.
(14:25):
So it has a lot of similaritiesto the Cycle 16 project, where
it's spanning multiple localgovernments and the
infrastructure is within thehighway, right-of-way.
And so right now we'redeveloping the conceptual design
to help prove the feasibilityof the project, and we also have
a significant component instakeholder engagement, and so
(14:48):
we were actually down in Gibsonsin February, meeting with the
local governments as well asmany of the elected officials to
discuss the project, to getinput and feedback on our design
and to strategize how best tomove the project forward.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Now the three kilometers.
Is that towards the ferry atLangdale or in some other
direction?
It's actually towards Sechelt.
Oh, okay, going the other way,Right, yeah, and what are your
challenges?
Progress reports on that one.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Well, the Highway 101 corridor is extremely
challenging along the SunshineCoast is extremely challenging.
Along the Sunshine Coast it'sgenerally pretty narrow and
there are a lot of utilities andproperties and topographical
constraints, drainages that makedesigning a multi-use path
(15:51):
within the Highway Right-of-Wayvery challenging and expensive.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
How about raising the money?
You mentioned that you werehired by the local society, so
the local advocates had to comeup with the money to pay you.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
That's right.
Yeah, so they rely heavily ongrants as did Cycle 16, to fund
these early phases of theproject, and what their role is
is really championing theproject and helping prove out
the feasibility of it anddeveloping a social license for
(16:27):
the project.
The ultimate goal is that theycan take the project to a stage
where local governments arefully in support of it and see
the value that the project willoffer to the community and
eventually take it over.
On that note, there's kind oftwo different paths that the
(16:48):
project could take.
Path one would be the localgovernments choose to own and
operate the trail.
They would also be responsiblefor funding the construction of
it.
And path two would be that theMinistry of Transportation and
Transit would take it over,which is what happened with the
Cycle 16 project.
So the Connect the CoastSociety is pursuing both paths
(17:14):
and working towards trying to tofind an owner for it.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Alan, it sounds like you are technically an engineer.
I mean, you are an engineer,but your job involves a certain
amount of if I can call itpolitics, of bringing people
together and coming to consensuson roots funding and all of
that stuff.
Is that a big part of whatyou're doing?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
It's funny, I don't think of it as politics, but
there is certainly an element ofthat.
Certainly, we do a lot ofstakeholder engagement, and so
building those relationships iskey.
Yeah, I bring a few elements, Iguess, to the project.
I'm a professional projectmanager so I have good
(18:02):
experience on what it takes todeliver projects, but I also
have a lot of experience instakeholder engagement and
helping build support for theproject.
And then I've also got thetechnical experience of a
transportation engineer, so Iunderstand a lot of the
technical challenges that goalong with projects like this.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I imagine understanding the technical
challenges would be pretty darnimportant, because it's easy to
say, oh, we should just put aroute along here, without
realizing we've got to cross allthese intersections and
drainages and sewer pipes,whatever.
Realizing you've got to crossall these intersections and
drainages and sewer pipes,whatever.
The one in Smithers, the Cycle16 project, you said, took 20
(18:46):
years but it culminated in abreakthrough funding initiative
and responsibility by theMinistry of Transportation and
Transit.
Do other advocates have toexpect to wait 20 years for
their projects to come tofruition, or do you think?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
we're now on a much faster track because of some of
this recent work that you'vebeen involved with.
Yeah, I do think that some ofthe groundwork that has been
done on projects like Cycle 16will help us move more quickly
on some of these projects, and Ido think that the province
itself is in a different placetoday than it was 20 years ago
(19:24):
when it comes to prioritizingactive transportation and
capital projects, and so and Ithink we're in an exciting place
where we're seeing a lot morefunding being allocated to these
types of projects.
With that said, it certainlydoes take a lot of effort to get
(19:44):
these projects to the pointwhere local governments or the
ministry are willing to takethem over, and having an
organization, or multipleorganizations, champion a
project is really important.
That was certainly the key tosuccess for Cycle 16.
I think it's the only reasonthe Sunshine Coast project is
(20:09):
making progress as well, becausethe Connect the Coast Society
is championing the project.
Hopefully, one day we're in aplace where that's not necessary
, where boards of volunteersdon't have to dedicate their
time to ensure that theseimportant projects get built,
but that certainly is a keypiece of the projects in today's
(20:31):
environment.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Well, we're working hard through the BC Cycling
Coalition and this podcast tohelp these advocates learn how
to do it.
But I certainly appreciate yourpoint that it does seem a bit
weird.
You don't hear local advocateshaving to get together and raise
funding for the consultation onbuilding a highway interchange,
for example.
It just gets done Now with theministry getting involved.
(20:55):
How are they measuring success?
What is their desired outcome?
And is there data beingcollected, say on the Cycle 16
path, to prove that money waswell spent?
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, we've got eco-counters, which are
bi-directional pedestriancyclist counters, installed on
each phase of the project sothat we can collect data on the
usage, and so that is somethingthat the province is collecting
on all their projects to showwhat the return on investment
(21:26):
was for the total capitalinvestment versus the total
usage in the end.
So far, cycle 16 has beengetting a lot of use, which is
really exciting to see.
We've got a local bakery at theend of phase one, and so every
Saturday they've got a what theycall a bikery event.
Um, and we see upwards of 350pedestrians and cyclists
(21:50):
commuting out to the, to thebikery every Saturday Wonderful.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You got, you said you .
You told me you had two, twokids, two sons, five and seven.
That's right.
Have you been to the bikery?
I have, yeah, and what's itlike?
What's the feeling out there?
You must feel pretty good aboutthis coming to fruition because
of you, and here you are withyour friends and relatives.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
It's amazing.
I just yeah.
I feel very fortunate to havebeen a part of this project and
to see it contribute to ourcommunity and to see my kids use
it and hopefully, one day,their kids.
I never expected to designthese types of projects for a
living.
It really was the Cycle 16project and the opportunity that
(22:31):
was given to me that put mycareer on a path of almost
exclusively designing theseprojects, so it's really neat.
I feel quite fortunate for it.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Are there other people in your organization and
around the province who havethis expertise and are also
getting involved in this?
Because the way you'vedescribed it, it would sound
like fingers crossed.
This is a growing employmentopportunity, let's say, and
opportunity for companies likeyours.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Absolutely.
Yeah, we've got a growing teamof transportation engineers that
are designing trails like thisthroughout the province.
Wsp has a very large landscapearchitecture team and
transportation planning team andso they contribute important
components to to projects likethis and they work a lot with
(23:20):
local governments on activetransportation network plans and
, yeah, it's an exciting space.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Before we let you go.
Are there people in Smithers,where you're most which is what
you're most familiar with whoyou wouldn't have thought would
care or be involved with this,who have find themselves now
supporting it, now that it'sthere, and they've experienced
how, let's say wonderful it is.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Absolutely yeah.
So before the first phase ofcycle 16 was constructed there
was certainly some opposition tothe project Maybe not a good
use of taxpayer dollars orexpectations that it wouldn't
get a whole lot of use.
And that piece of trail hasbeen in operation for two years
(24:07):
now and we see a ton of use onthe trail and a lot of people
commute to town and they'redriving by the first phase of
cycle 16 and seeing theirfriends or their grandkids
biking on the trail.
And it certainly has flippedthe perception and support stage
(24:31):
because people can see itgetting used and can see it
acting as a safe means oftransportation for many, which
riding on the highway shoulderwas pretty scary and continues
to be scary for a lot of people,and so seeing a separated bike
path where kids and families canride is pretty special.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Fantastic.
Do you have any other advicefor other organizations that
might be interested in this kindof project things?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
they should get ready before they even call someone
like you yeah, um, in myexperience there's more support
in communities for projects likethis than most people realize,
and so it's drumming up thatsupport and building a social
license for the project, andthat does take a lot of effort,
(25:26):
but it is a key step inadvancing a project.
And so if you have a project inyour community that would help
improve the community, then youneed to work with some of the
local organizations and buildsupport for it.
There's a lot of grant fundingout there to help advance
projects like this.
Grants from where.
There are grants that theprovince has through the BC
(25:50):
Active Transportation Programprogram.
They offer, I believe, $50,000per year for active
transportation network plans andup to $500,000 for capital
projects.
There are federal grants andthen there's lots of local
organizations that grant moneyto projects like this.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So, alan, will we see you at the Regional Active
Transportation Conference inKimberley September 10th to 12th
.
So, alan, will we see you atthe regional active
transportation conference inkimberly september 10th to 12th
yes absolutely.
I'm looking forward to it.
Fantastic, so people who cometo that conference will have a
chance to ask you more questionsabout these projects and, uh,
hopefully advance them in theirown communities.
Thank you so much for youradvice and we look forward to
(26:33):
following your progress onconnect the coast and wherever
else you might be lending yourtalents.
Thanks, alan, thanks peter.
You've been listening to bikesense, an original podcast from
the bc cycling coalition.
(26:53):
If you like the podcast, we'dbe grateful if you could leave
us a rating.
On whatever platform you use,you can also subscribe so you
don't miss future episodes.
If you have comments orsuggestions for future episodes,
email me at peterladner atbccyclingca.
(27:14):
Peterladner at bccyclingca.
You can help us amplify BCCycling Coalition's voice by
simply becoming a free member atbccyclingca.
Thank you.
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